VMware releases Fusion 3 for Mac with full Windows 7 support

[AppleInsider]

VMware on Tuesday released its latest virtualization software, Fusion 3, offering Snow Leopard optimization and full support for Windows 7, including Aero.

The new version of VMware Fusion 3 offers more than 50 new features, including greater support for graphics-intensive games in Windows. It is available for $79.99, or at an upgrade price of $39.99 for existing users.

The virtual machine software allows Macs with Intel processors to run the Windows operating system simultaneously within Mac OS X.

Features highlighted by VMware include:

Optimized for Snow Leopard. VMware Fusion 3 leverages Mac OS X Snow Leopard’s advanced architecture with a new 64-bit core engine and native support for the 64-bit kernel to deliver an even better Windows on Mac experience.
CPU usage running Windows Live Writer on Windows 7 x64

Ultimate Windows 7 Experience. VMware Fusion 3 is the FIRST virtualization product for the Mac to provide the full Windows 7 experience, side-by-side with your Mac, complete with Windows Aero and Flip 3D. Run 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 7 -- it is your choice.
Only VMware Fusion 3 Supports Windows Aero with Flip 3D

Switching Made Easy. VMware Fusion 3 makes it easy for users to bring their entire PC to their Mac in a few easy steps –- wirelessly or with a simple Ethernet cable -– allowing customers to protect investments in existing Windows software, and to keep using the programs they still need all for the same low price.
Leverage Apple’s Bonjour for the most Mac like way to migrate your PC to the Mac

Best-in-Class 3D Graphics. VMware was the first to provide virtual 3D graphics and is the first to support Windows Aero in a virtual machine on the Mac. VMware Fusion 3 is also first to support DirectX 9 Shader Model 3.0 3D graphics and now adds support for OpenGL 2.1 for Windows virtual machines to enable more Windows applications and games.

Run Windows Apps, The Mac Way. VMware Fusion has been designed from the beginning to make it easy to run Windows apps like Mac apps. VMware Fusion 3 makes it even better with the "Always On" Applications Menu that banishes the Windows Start menu from your Mac and let’s you find and launch Windows apps like Mac apps, even when VMware Fusion is not running. Cycle through open Windows apps with " command ' ", quit individual Windows applications with "command q", and use Dock Exposé with Windows apps.
Kick the Windows Start Menu to the curb with the new "Always On" Application Menu

Maximum Performance. Finely Tuned. Building on the proven reliability and performance of VMware Fusion 2, the new 64-bit native core engine and 4-way multi-core SMP make VMware Fusion 3 perform even better. In addition, many smaller refinements increase overall performance from better disk and graphics performance on Snow Leopard, improved 2D interactive performance, faster scrolling in Windows applications, faster to enter Unity view, improved application launch times and much more. VMware Fusion 3 is finely tuned to make Windows run even better than before on the Mac.

VMware Fusion 3 is now available for purchase and immediate download. For more information, visit the VMware official site.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[akf2000]

Would love to see a review. I'm torn between bootcamp/ VM for Win 7.

[johnmcboston]

Originally Posted by akf2000

Would love to see a review. I'm torn between bootcamp/ VM for Win 7.

Ditto. When I get the new machine next month I'm not sure which "windows on mac" SW would work best for me...

[Wings]

Except when you go to their website to buy an upgrade, you can put it in your cart, and view your cart, but there is no checkout button. Tried it with Safari and Firefox, no go. Their website is non-functional with Safari anyway. Can't login. At least for me.

[TonyHoyle]

I can't even get that far.. apparently I have 'no eligible registered products' even though I have 2 registered copies of VMware fusion, and reregistering them does nothing.

Epic fail launch, really.. they should have at least made sure people could order the product.

[-AG-]

Well dont know about you guys but im thinking that this may finally shut all the "you cant play games on a mac" haters out there.

Because looking at what i have been able to gather so far it looks like this can be the best of both worlds.

[darwiniandude]

Crossover games runs the Steam and other games well, without a copy of windows stealing ram and CPU at all.

But it won't run everything. Is there a Fusion demo? If it runs Colin McRae DiRT then I'm buying, Windows 7 doesn't work in bootcamp yet in my 27".

[aplnub]

Originally Posted by Wings

Except when you go to their website to buy an upgrade, you can put it in your cart, and view your cart, but there is no checkout button. Tried it with Safari and Firefox, no go. Their website is non-functional with Safari anyway. Can't login. At least for me.

I purchased it just fine. It is downloading now. Mine was an upgrade.

Maybe you should try again. I am running the latest Safari.

[lordeagle]

Originally Posted by Wings

Except when you go to their website to buy an upgrade, you can put it in your cart, and view your cart, but there is no checkout button. Tried it with Safari and Firefox, no go. Their website is non-functional with Safari anyway. Can't login. At least for me.

I purchased the upgrade earlier today using Firefox...

[al_bundy]

Originally Posted by -AG-

Well dont know about you guys but im thinking that this may finally shut all the "you cant play games on a mac" haters out there.

Because looking at what i have been able to gather so far it looks like this can be the best of both worlds.

doesn't matter

i've seen the PC game revenue trends for the last 20 years or so and they aren't pretty. last year was 50% less than 2000, but it probably doesn't include WoW. the way consoles are today, PC gaming was probably a fad that will go away or we'll have a few games a year released

[zunx]

There is another key advantage of Fusion (VMware) over Desktop (Parallels): true support for USB external devices. No problems with Fusion; Desktop is a nightmare if you want to capture data from such devices.

[akf2000]

Originally Posted by darwiniandude

Crossover games runs the Steam and other games well, without a copy of windows stealing ram and CPU at all.

But it won't run everything. Is there a Fusion demo? If it runs Colin McRae DiRT then I'm buying, Windows 7 doesn't work in bootcamp yet in my 27".

Really? I have a 27" Imac I'm hoping to put Win 7 on - a search for "bootcamp windows 7" has results where people have it working but usually the audio-in is a problem, does it just not work at all for you?

[Gwydion]

Originally Posted by -AG-

Well dont know about you guys but im thinking that this may finally shut all the "you cant play games on a mac" haters out there.

Because looking at what i have been able to gather so far it looks like this can be the best of both worlds.

After reading VMWare forum I don't think you can play decently modern games.

[Franck]

Originally Posted by -AG-

Well dont know about you guys but im thinking that this may finally shut all the "you cant play games on a mac" haters out there.

Because looking at what i have been able to gather so far it looks like this can be the best of both worlds.

With the existing GPU on Macs, you still can't play games, except with a $2500 Mac Pro.

The GPU on an iMac will not be able to drive a 27" gracefully during an intensive game session

[dvassallo]

Before paying for Fusion or Parallels, or using Bootcamp which is often inconvenient (having to boot into a separate partition) you should all really check out Sun Microsystems free open source option Virtual Box. It's available at www.virtualbox.org. I have been using it with XP on my Snow Leopard Mac and fell in love with it. I am now using it on an XP host at work with a Win 7 EE guest for testing. Check it out.

[Abster2core]

Originally Posted by Gwydion

After reading VMWare forum I don't think you can play decently modern games.

Macworld has done a First Look.

Final first look impressions
Overall, I’ve been impressed with VMware Fusion 3’s performance during my time with it. Creating new virtual machines was simple, performance was good even on a mid-range iMac, and the ability to use Aero effects and run 3D games in the virtual machine was impressive. The new Virtual Machine Library screen eases the management of multiple virtual machines, and the built-in update tool will make it easy to keep up to date with future releases.

I’ll have much more to say about VMware Fusion in an upcoming review, where I’ll take a look at Fusion’s performance in both Leopard and Snow Leopard, and see how it compares with not only its predecessor, but also with its two main competitors in the virtualization market—VirtualBox and Parallels.

http://www.macworld.com/article/1434...firstlook.html


Wine Review also has Review on Fusion 3. However, I am not sure this is hands-on. http://wine-review.blogspot.com/2009...e-windows.html

[ghostface147]

I don't see anything compelling enough to make me upgrade. I use XP in VM for basic functions that aren't available on the Mac platform and that's it. Maybe version 5 or something for me.

[PersonMan]

Originally Posted by dvassallo

Before paying for Fusion or Parallels, or using Bootcamp which is often inconvenient (having to boot into a separate partition) you should all really check out Sun Microsystems free open source option Virtual Box. It's available at www.virtualbox.org. I have been using it with XP on my Snow Leopard Mac and fell in love with it. I am now using it on an XP host at work with a Win 7 EE guest for testing. Check it out.

Does VirtualBox have DirectX 9 shader 3.0 support? If not, then for those people who need that for things like games, etc, VirtualBox is not an option.

[jasenj1]

Originally Posted by PersonMan

Does VirtualBox have DirectX 9 shader 3.0 support? If not, then for those people who need that for things like games, etc, VirtualBox is not an option.

And I don't believe VirtualBox works with a BootCamp partition. I like having the option of booting into Windows if I have to.

- Jasen.

[Dr_Evil]

Originally Posted by darwiniandude

Crossover games runs the Steam and other games well, without a copy of windows stealing ram and CPU at all.

But it won't run everything. Is there a Fusion demo? If it runs Colin McRae DiRT then I'm buying, Windows 7 doesn't work in bootcamp yet in my 27".

PC Pro UK have provided a workaround to get Windows 7 in Boot Camp running on the new 27" iMac.

(edited to add "in Boot Camp", to avoid any conFusion - arf!)

[PXT]

I gave up on VMWare 2 as I found it slow, killed the Mac side, was a RAM hog and generally seemed a bit unpredictable as to whether a opening a Word document would actually cause the VM to start and open the document.

Plus I don't think VMWare have escaped the PC mentality. Their install notes suggested sharing the Documents folder with all content in it and installing anti-virus to protect your content. No ! Bad dog ! No biscuit !

I switched to bootcamp and am much happier with a fairly stable Vista install. Before you laugh, with no software running except AVG and Office and no files kept in there, it starts up quite quickly. The Mac can see any data in the Vista partition and I move files from Mac to PC using iDisk. I hear Snow leopard allows the Windows side to see the Mac side so, when Fujitsu one-day release drivers for the ScanSnap, I'll be curious to see how that works.

[camroidv27]

Originally Posted by -AG-

Well dont know about you guys but im thinking that this may finally shut all the "you cant play games on a mac" haters out there.

Because looking at what i have been able to gather so far it looks like this can be the best of both worlds.

We've been able to play games on mac for years! I remember old B/W games on the MacSEII. That said, games on Windows have always been better and had more support. Sadly, its still true.

Yes you can game on Mac Hardware (since its a PC), but in order to run the good games, you have to buy and boot into Windows. That's not gaming on Mac Software. (Worse yet, you are giving MS more money by buying the retail licence rather than the subsidized cheaper licence that comes with a new computer. More money in MS pocket... I thought that's what you guys were against!)

[anonymouse]

Yes, but how well does it run Linux?

[David Steuber]

Does VMWare let me install Linux too? I've already got Parallels 4.0 (the latest build last I looked) so that it works with kernel_task in 64 bit mode. I've got XP, Linux, and Linux64 VMs setup.

I've been waiting for Parallels 5.0 to come out so that 'experimental' can be replaced with ready for production use.

[dvassallo]

Originally Posted by PersonMan

Does VirtualBox have DirectX 9 shader 3.0 support? If not, then for those people who need that for things like games, etc, VirtualBox is not an option.

From the Virtual Box Manual (Version 3.x.x)

4.8 Hardware 3D acceleration (OpenGL and DirectX
8/9)
The VirtualBox Guest Additions contain experimental hardware 3D support for Windows,
Linux and Solaris guests.2
With this feature, if an application inside your virtual machine uses 3D features
through the OpenGL or DirectX 8/9 programming interfaces, instead of emulating
them in software (which would be slow), VirtualBox will attempt to use your host’s
3D hardware. This works for all supported host platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux,
Solaris), provided that your host operating system can make use of your accelerated
3D hardware in the first place.
The 3D acceleration currently has the following preconditions:

1. It is only available for certain Windows, Linux and Solaris guests. In particular:
• For Windows guests, support is restricted to 32-bit versions of XP and Vista.
Both OpenGL and DirectX 8/9 are supported (experimental).
2OpenGL support for Windows guests was added with VirtualBox 2.1; support for Linux and Solaris followed
with version 2.2. With version 3, DirectX 8/9 support was added for Windows guests. OpenGL
2.0 is now supported as well.

2. The Guest Additions must be installed.
Note: For Direct 3D acceleration to work in a Windows Guest, VirtualBox
needs to replace Windows system files in the virtual machine. As a result, the
Guest Additions installation program offers Direct 3D acceleration as an option
that must be explicitly enabled.Also, you must install the Guest Additions
in “Safe Mode”; see chapter 13, Known limitations, page 221 for details.

3. Because 3D support is still experimental at this time, it is disabled by default
and must be manually enabled in the VM settings (see chapter 3.7.1, General
settings, page 46).

[TBell]

I am not sure why'd you be torn. For most people, the two serve two different purposes. VM Ware is going to be for people who rely on some Windows application a lot. Boot camp is more for people who may occasionally use a Windows program or don't need to constantly switch between both Mac and Windows programs.


For instance, for my work there is a program I use that only runs on Windows. I am constantly switching between my Mac email, Mac web browser, and this Windows program. With VM Ware I start up in the Mac OS and can seamlessly go between both Windows and Mac programs. I can also download a Windows program in the Mac version of Safari, and then easily drag it over to the Windows Desktop.

I couldn't do my work efficiently if I relied on Bootcamp because I'd have to keep rebooting the OS. I have run some older PC games on VM Ware, but I suspect Bootcamp works better for games though.

Originally Posted by akf2000

Would love to see a review. I'm torn between bootcamp/ VM for Win 7.

[TBell]

Yes it does.

Originally Posted by David Steuber

Does VMWare let me install Linux too? I've already got Parallels 4.0 (the latest build last I looked) so that it works with kernel_task in 64 bit mode. I've got XP, Linux, and Linux64 VMs setup.

I've been waiting for Parallels 5.0 to come out so that 'experimental' can be replaced with ready for production use.

[dvassallo]

Originally Posted by jasenj1

And I don't believe VirtualBox works with a BootCamp partition. I like having the option of booting into Windows if I have to.

- Jasen.

I believe there is a solution for this: http://dotneverland.blogspot.com/200...indows-xp.html

[TBell]

If you are affiliated with a University or know anyone that is, you can get Windows 7 for about $30.

I think most Mac users are against Microsoft because 1) they steal most of their ideas from Apple, 2) used their monopoly power to unfairly compete, and 3) for the most part make crappy products.

Other then that, I use Microsoft Word and like it better then the alternatives. Running games through emulation ultimately hurts Mac development because it takes away incentive to develop for the platform.

Originally Posted by camroidv27

We've been able to play games on mac for years! I remember old B/W games on the MacSEII. That said, games on Windows have always been better and had more support. Sadly, its still true.

Yes you can game on Mac Hardware (since its a PC), but in order to run the good games, you have to buy and boot into Windows. That's not gaming on Mac Software. (Worse yet, you are giving MS more money by buying the retail licence rather than the subsidized cheaper licence that comes with a new computer. More money in MS pocket... I thought that's what you guys were against!)

[Phizz]

Anybody noticing any issues with Fusion 3 at all? Running alright??

I'm really hoping Fusion 3 + Win7 is less of a CPU/RAM hog than my current Fusion 2 + Vista setup. When I have a few large Photoshop files open (CS3 on OS X), along with VS2008/SQL2008 on Fusion, they seem to have a battle for RAM which ends up really slowing down my iMac (late '07 24" with 4GB RAM)

I've got my Win 7 DVD sitting right here and can download Fusion3 now, but I really don't want to introduce a new set of issues or come across any showstopping bugs...

[Ireland]

I'm waiting for the Pirate Bay edition

Bootcamp works fine, but 32 bit version (x86) seems to be the right choice when installing. The biggest issue with Bootcamp and 7 right now is bluetooth. You have to (unintuitively) uninstall the Apple bluetooth drivers after installing all the Bootcamp drivers via your Snow Leopard disk, in administrator mode. To get your keyboard working. Lucky I use a Logitech Laser mouse, so I could do that.

[justflybob]

Originally Posted by Wings

Except when you go to their website to buy an upgrade, you can put it in your cart, and view your cart, but there is no checkout button. Tried it with Safari and Firefox, no go. Their website is non-functional with Safari anyway. Can't login. At least for me.

The website worked just fine with the latest Safari (4.0.3), but mind you, I did my upgrade download at 5:00AM PDST. I had no idea at the time just how lucky I was to do so.

I logged in, with Safari and downloaded the full version within 4 minutes (400+ MB).

Granted, the new license does not import from your 1.X or 2.X, but that's it.

Faster, stable with a few more nice touches.

[justflybob]

Originally Posted by Phizz

Anybody noticing any issues with Fusion 3 at all? Running alright??

I'm really hoping Fusion 3 + Win7 is less of a CPU/RAM hog than my current Fusion 2 + Vista setup. When I have a few large Photoshop files open (CS3 on OS X), along with VS2008/SQL2008 on Fusion, they seem to have a battle for RAM which ends up really slowing down my iMac (late '07 24" with 4GB RAM)

I've got my Win 7 DVD sitting right here and can download Fusion3 now, but I really don't want to introduce a new set of issues or come across any showstopping bugs...

Split the RAM into 2GB's each for VMware and the Mac. Should be fine. I run XP with a lot of proprietary apps. No issues whatsoever.

[bloggerblog]

Originally Posted by Wings

Except when you go to their website to buy an upgrade, you can put it in your cart, and view your cart, but there is no checkout button. Tried it with Safari and Firefox, no go. Their website is non-functional with Safari anyway. Can't login. At least for me.

Originally Posted by TonyHoyle

I can't even get that far.. apparently I have 'no eligible registered products' even though I have 2 registered copies of VMware fusion, and reregistering them does nothing.

Epic fail launch, really.. they should have at least made sure people could order the product.

Before you can checkout it displays the number of licenses you own according to your registered account, there is another text box on the far right side of the same line where you need to enter the number of licenses you need upgraded. Once you do that then you should be able to continue...

[aplnub]

Migration over a wired GB network has failed every time.

[thesmoth]

Great!

Hopefully this fixes the fact that Vmware fusion 2 running snow leopard and windows 7 is so slow that it is not-usable on a bottom end 13" mbp. It takes about 20 minutes to boot windows 7 in vmware fusion 2, and then things are so slow it is useless.

And yes i've installed the vmware tools about 70 times, doesn't make a difference.

[bloggerblog]

Originally Posted by thesmoth

Great!

Hopefully this fixes the fact that Vmware fusion 2 running snow leopard and windows 7 is so slow that it is not-usable on a bottom end 13" mbp. It takes about 20 minutes to boot windows 7 in vmware fusion 2, and then things are so slow it is useless.

And yes i've installed the vmware tools about 70 times, doesn't make a difference.

You may need to increase the memory in your VM settings.

[thesmoth]

Originally Posted by bloggerblog

You may need to increase the memory in your VM settings.

Doesn't really help. My 13" MBP has 4 gigs of ram and I have 2 gigs for each operating system.

My girlfriend only has 2 gigs of ram right now, and so she has 1 gig of ram for each.

Her system with 2 gigs is totally useless. Mine with 4 gigs still takes forever to load, and is a bit more useable when it actually does load, but basically useless.

[PersonMan]

Originally Posted by dvassallo

From the Virtual Box Manual (Version 3.x.x)

4.8 Hardware 3D acceleration (OpenGL and DirectX
8/9)
The VirtualBox Guest Additions contain experimental hardware 3D support for Windows,
Linux and Solaris guests.2
With this feature, if an application inside your virtual machine uses 3D features
through the OpenGL or DirectX 8/9 programming interfaces, instead of emulating
them in software (which would be slow), VirtualBox will attempt to use your host’s
3D hardware. This works for all supported host platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux,
Solaris), provided that your host operating system can make use of your accelerated
3D hardware in the first place.
The 3D acceleration currently has the following preconditions:

1. It is only available for certain Windows, Linux and Solaris guests. In particular:
• For Windows guests, support is restricted to 32-bit versions of XP and Vista.
Both OpenGL and DirectX 8/9 are supported (experimental).
2OpenGL support for Windows guests was added with VirtualBox 2.1; support for Linux and Solaris followed
with version 2.2. With version 3, DirectX 8/9 support was added for Windows guests. OpenGL
2.0 is now supported as well.

2. The Guest Additions must be installed.
Note: For Direct 3D acceleration to work in a Windows Guest, VirtualBox
needs to replace Windows system files in the virtual machine. As a result, the
Guest Additions installation program offers Direct 3D acceleration as an option
that must be explicitly enabled.Also, you must install the Guest Additions
in “Safe Mode”; see chapter 13, Known limitations, page 221 for details.

3. Because 3D support is still experimental at this time, it is disabled by default
and must be manually enabled in the VM settings (see chapter 3.7.1, General
settings, page 46).

DirectX 9 support does NOT mean "DirectX 9 Shader 3.0 support." That's what is needed to get full aero effects, for example. VirtualBox is fine for many people, but not all. And, it still doesn't support booting from a Boot Camp partition.

[ChristophB]

Originally Posted by thesmoth

Great!

Hopefully this fixes the fact that Vmware fusion 2 running snow leopard and windows 7 is so slow that it is not-usable on a bottom end 13" mbp. It takes about 20 minutes to boot windows 7 in vmware fusion 2, and then things are so slow it is useless.

And yes i've installed the vmware tools about 70 times, doesn't make a difference.

I had a similar issue with VM2 and SL. I tried a trick I read on the Fusion forums which was cutting back to one Virtual Processor and it sped things up dramatically.

I've been using 3.0 since early this morning haven't had issues with stability. No issues with peripherals and yep - I'm running 64-bit kernel. Haven't done testing to know if it's faster.